The midsize truck segment is a very competitive segment, and many automakers are competing in it. GMC is one of those automakers, and due to a lot of factors, the GMC Canyon is selling far worse than its competitors. Here’s a look at all the reasons why the GMC Canyon is falling behind right now. 

A look at the GMC Canyon’s sales figures 

2020 hasn’t been a good year for many people, and it’s the same story for the GMC Canyon. According to GM Authority, after a massive 56% drop in sales compared to last year’s quarter two sales, the Canyon is now the worst-selling midsize truck in America.

Just a tad over 5,000 Canyons were sold in the second quarter of 2020, and that’s compared to the almost 12,000 Canyons that were sold in the same time last year. 

The numbers are a bit better in terms of year-to-date sales, but still, the Canyon is in last place. The Canyon suffered a 48% drop in sales in 2020 compared to last year, and this is a slightly better drop than the Nissan Frontier, which saw its sales drop by 51%.

However, GMC still only sold about 9,700 Canyons this year, while Nissan sold about 19,000 Frontiers this year. 

Why is the GMC Canyon flopping?

There are three main reasons why the Canyon is flopping, according to GM Authority. The first, and the most obvious reason, is it’s because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has been hurting people in many ways, and, other than health effects, the pandemic has also done a lot of damage to the economy.

Many people simply don’t have the money to buy a new truck right now. This is why GM Authority also mentioned that pretty much every other automaker is seeing similar drops in demand. For example, the Toyota Tacoma is the best-selling midsize truck right now, and it still saw a 14% drop in sales compared to last year. 

That said, there’s another factor at play, according to GM Authority. The UAW strike, which happened near the end of the year in 2019, had a negative effect on the production of Canyons.

GM Authority said that, with fewer Canyons coming off the assembly lines, customers had fewer options at dealerships. This may have had an effect in the early months of 2020, but it may not have been a massive effect nonetheless.

New midsize truck competition

However, what really sunk the GMC Canyon was the fact that Ford and Jeep introduced some great midsize trucks to the segment. The Ford Ranger and the Jeep Gladiator were the only two midsize trucks to see a growth in sales.

One of the reasons why that happened was because Ford and Jeep simply didn’t sell many of them in 2019, so, even though there’s a massive pandemic and recession going on, their sales in 2020 are still better than 2019.

Jeep had just introduced the Gladiator in 2019, and as a result, Jeep only sold about 7,000 Gladiators in 2019. This made the Gladiator the worst-selling midsize truck in 2019, but, after people started hearing about the Gladiator, more and more people bought one.

In fact, Jeep saw a 380% jump in Gladiator sales in 2020, and now, with almost 35,000 Gladiators sold in 2020, the Canyon is easily in last place.

Similarly, the Ranger has been doing pretty well, as it’s sold 25,000 units in quarter two of 2020. In fact, the Ranger’s been selling so well that, even when combining the sales of GM’s two midsize trucks, the Chevy Colorado and the Canyon, Ford is still selling more Rangers than GM is selling midsize trucks.